1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicular sun visors, and, more particularly, this invention relates to sun visors having a lighted vanity mirror with a door that may be moved from a closed position covering the mirror to an open position exposing the mirror for use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically a sun visor has been constructed with a hardboard core which is covered with a plastic foam or other suitable padding material which in turn is covered with an upholstery layer. With this design, metal fixtures must be riveted or otherwise attached to the hardboard to form a socket, and a torque spring structure is mounted in the socket for maintaining the visor in its storage position when not in use. If the visor is equipped with a vanity mirror, the hardboard core member is cut out to receive the mirror. The mirror may have a cover which is pivoted between a closed position covering the mirror and an open position extending outwardly towards the users head which presents a safety hazard.
More recently, the visor assemblies have been constructed with molded plastic core members. Typically these are molded with two halves joined by a living hinge. This structure is commonly referred to as a clam shell. The internal members are inserted in the molded core members, and a covering or upholstery material is applied to the exterior of the core halves. The core halves are then pressed together and usually bonded by a heat sealing or a melting operation. Like the hardboard core visor, when a vanity mirror is to be supplied, it is inserted in a recess in one of the core members, and if a door is used to cover the mirror, it is of the hinged type swinging between a closed position covering the mirror and an open position extending towards the user.
When lighting is supplied to aid in the use of the mirror, a lamp structure is supplied at one or both ends of the mirror. In some instances the lighting has been provided by a lamp at one end of the mirror with suitable light conducting members conducting the light to the other end of the mirror.
In meeting the need for an aesthetically enhanced appearance and an improved safety oriented structure for both the hardboard core and molded core structures, a sun visor mirror assembly was introduced according to the teaching of our U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,798. This assembly includes the vanity mirror and a frame structure which allows a door to be slid within the visor assembly structure from a closed position covering the mirror to an open position exposing the mirror for use.
With a trend toward structurally improved molded visor assemblies, we introduced a molded visor in which the mirror assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,798 could be inserted or alternatively, the molded visor is self contained with a mirror and a sliding door. This improved visor structure is shown in our U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,983.
In the various sun visor structures, the seam created by covering the visor with upholstery material has generally been allowed to fall at the mid point of the visor thickness so that it is clearly visible in the visor storage position.